America's Cup Louis Vuitton Cup Day 1 ETNZ Boat Drop, INEOS, Orient Express, Expert Vittorio Comment

His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain was treated to a real spectacle on day one of the Louis Vuitton Cup with desperately close racing and some very interesting take-aways in light-airs. The King took to a hydrogen powered foiling support vessel to get a close-up view, on the racecourse itself, of the opening two races of the day where the French Orient Express Racing Team came out with fire in their belly and scored a thrilling win against Alinghi Red Bull Racing.

For the French, short on time in the AC75, this was a vital win with Kevin Peponnet, port helm exuding a newfound confidence, saying: “We are feeling really positive. We didn’t win both races, but the goal was to at least win a race today. We felt that Alinghi Red Bull Racing have more weaknesses than Luna Rossa, so a win was more achievable – it was good to win this match. Then against Luna Rossa we felt we were in contention and although we lost, we have come away from that race feeling like we definitely have the potential to win against the big ones – and we haven’t discovered the full potential of our boat yet. ”